Something Positive

[briker]

Positive news from the government is very rare. So let's commend when it does happen and give credit where it's due.

_________________________________________________________________

Home affairs gets first clean audit

2011-09-29

Pretoria - The home affairs department achieved its first unqualified audit opinion in 16 years, Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said on Thursday.

This was a historic day for her department and in line with its commitment to the public, she told reporters in Pretoria.

"This is not a miracle, but a result of consistent hard work."

All necessary financial management mechanisms had been in place during the 2010/11 financial year, she said.

"In our walk towards an unqualified audit opinion, the department of home affairs has become a normal department simultaneously achieving improved levels of service delivery."

Dlamini-Zuma hoped this would inspire officials to do more in building a new department.

[annman]

That's great. Now all they need to do is work on their staff's productivity and we may very well be en route to a decent Home Affairs Department. Hopefully if the progress continues and fraudulent activity drops, perhaps South Africans can regain some lost visa-free status in some countries.

[RYebreAD]

You know what, you can already see the improvements in the service compared to what it was prior to 2010. My partner and I went in for passports and we received them both within the week, which was great.

Great progress!

[Lydon]

They've definitely improved leaps and bounds. The wait time for documents has been reduced drastically.

[VCollaborator]

It is good that they have financial management, but their efficiency is still very bad. I applied for a new passport at the beginning of January this year, from Australia, and their website said that I would have to wait 6 months max. I only received my new passport in August.

The documents on the high commissions website (http://www.sahc.org.au/index.htm) that you had to fill in were also crappy since there were references to pages that were not included with the online document.

I also know of people in SA who have bribed them with food for efficiency so I somehow doubt that they have sound finances.

What is the name of the company who did the audit?

[Pule]

when it's posetive news then the auditing company have been bribed? quite an interesting comment. Out of all the guys working in our company who comes from India have had a very good service with home affairs except one. The service there has improved significantly.

[dysan1]

Great to hear. Must say my new I'd took 9days

[briker]

My new passport took less than 2 weeks. I was nicely surprised when I got an sms from them, asking me to pick it up.

[VCollaborator]

Originally Posted by Pule

when it's posetive news then the auditing company have been bribed? quite an interesting comment. Out of all the guys working in our company who comes from India have had a very good service with home affairs except one. The service there has improved significantly.

Nope more along the line of covering up fraud within home affairs to get a clean audit.
I guess you can give this one to them though, since they have failed the audits before, or is this just a case of no audits were done before?

The only thing that I can see that has improved though is the design of the passports. I love the new design.

Even if they were to finish my passport on time, six months is still a ridiculous time to wait, so I would like to see the max waiting period go down and for them to actually deliver a proper service.

[ToxicBunny]

They deliver a proper service to everyone but you it seems..

I just recently got my new passport, took 10 days (or something ridiculous like that)

[Lydon]

Originally Posted by VCollaborator

Even if they were to finish my passport on time, six months is still a ridiculous time to wait, so I would like to see the max waiting period go down and for them to actually deliver a proper service.

What's important is that they now are delivering a proper service to the majority of South Africans. I agree with you in that a wait time of 6 months is ridiculous for those living abroad, but I'd far rather they pool their resources and get their shit in order for the majority, as they have done.

Clearly whatever they're doing is working for most of us.

[GetDownAdam]

Originally Posted by VCollaborator

Even if they were to finish my passport on time, six months is still a ridiculous time to wait, so I would like to see the max waiting period go down and for them to actually deliver a proper service.

I think you'll find that it's not abnormal to wait for an extended period when applying for a passport from outside a country. When I originally got my UK passport, I waited 3 months and that was considered a good turnaround for them.

[Diggerdog]

The Relative permits and residency visas I needed to get for my family were done fast and painlessly - at the time I must say I was surprised and relieved - but it seems to me these days that they are efficient more often than not.

[SA BOY]

im paying a visa company to do temp and permanent visas for my wife. easier and don't have to go anywhere

[Diggerdog]

SA development index records third successive rise
Monday, 03 October 2011

The third quarterly release of the South African Development Index (SADI) for 2011 showed that development trends in the country continued to improve.

The SADI is an initiative of the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR). It is a composite index tracking levels of human and economic development for South Africa across 26 indicators spread across six policy areas.

The index was benchmarked to a score of 100 in the third quarter of 2010. The first quarterly release of the index for 2011 recorded an increase in the score to 101.66 points. The second quarterly release saw the index improve to 101.95 points and this third update of the index saw South Africa’s development score increase to 102.96 points.

The Institute developed the index in order to evaluate overall levels of human and economic development in South Africa.

A major contributor to the latest rise in the index came as a result of crime data released by the South African Police (SAPS) in September 2011. The index tracks the total number of serious crimes per 100 000 people and the total number of murders per 100 000 as indicative of levels of crime and violence in the country. Both these indicators have fallen substantially.

Also updated in this release of the index were a number of health indicators, including life expectancy and child mortality. Each of these indicators also recorded pleasing improvements. Improvements were also recorded in the number of public sector doctors per 100 000 people and the number of public sector nurses per 100 000 people. These figures are regarded as indicative of the resources available to South Africa’s health sector.

The greatest disappointment in this update of the index was a rise in South Africa’s unemployment rates. Researcher Catherine Schulze, said that, over the long term, recording significant improvements in levels of development under this index would require a substantial lowering of South Africa’s unemployment rate.

She said, "We anticipate that the index will emerge as an excellent indicator of long-term development trends in South Africa. Such an indicator is extremely important in trying to gauge the progress that South Africa is making as a young democracy in improving the lives of its people."

"Too often in our experience South Africans are able only to grasp elements of the whole when looking at development trends in the country. As a result questionable claims are often made about South Africa as a country of phenomenal successes or disappointing failures. We anticipate that this index will come to stand as a bridge between these two extremes in order to present an accurate and balanced picture of development in the country."

The index is updated four times a year with the latest available economic and development data at the time of the update. The index is available on the Institute website as a free service in the interests of promoting development in South Africa. It is sponsored by the Royal Netherlands Embassy. The next update of the index will be released in December of 2011.

[Project Director]

Dalai Lama cancels SA trip over visa delay

Dharamshala - The Dalai Lama has cancelled a proposed trip to South Africa this week after authorities failed to grant him a visa in time, his office said on Tuesday.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu had invited the Tibetan spiritual leader, a fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner, to give an inaugural peace lecture as part of celebrations for Tutu's 80th birthday on Friday.

"His Holiness was to depart for South Africa on October 6, 2011 but visas have not been granted yet," said a statement from the Dalai Lama's office in India explaining the cancellation of the trip.


...standard Home Affairs turn around for a visa application through a foreign embassey ...5 working days....

re-audit required!!!

[Lydon]

I don't think this has anything to do with Home Affairs' efficiency. I think the powers-that-be have been meddling as usual.

[Project Director]

ZAPIRO


http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/201...apiro-cartoons


poor oke just wanted to have a few pots with his mate tutsie.......

[Diggerdog]

Serious crime levels decline
Monday, 20 February 2012

The Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster has revealed that serious crime levels have declined by 5% in the last three years. The cluster, led by Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Jeff Radebe, addressed the media on Sunday, giving an update of the cluster's ongoing work.

Radebe said that for the first time in the period under review, the murder rate had dropped by 6.5%, attempted murder by 12.2% and sexual offences by 4.4%. "These decreases were achieved through various interventions, including proper planning, police visibility and coordination with other security agencies. Whilst we note a decrease in sexual offences, we remain seriously concerned about the increase in rape cases," he said.

In an effort to tackle the issue, he said they had begun to reintroduce the South African Police Service Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences units to focus on crimes among vulnerable groups. "We have also attended to improving infrastructure such as Victim Friendly Rooms at police stations, Thuthuzela Care Centres, Domestic Violence Shelters and Places of Safety throughout the country. "All these are done in an effort to ensure the centrality of the victim, particularly a vulnerable victim," he said.

Radebe highlighted that they noted a recent increase in ATM bombings. "Intensive detective and intelligence work, supported by various agencies, is currently underway to hunt, arrest and prosecute those responsible for the crimes," he said.

In the fight against organised crime, he said that the Directorate of Priority Investigations (Hawks) had since arrested the country's 50 most wanted criminals. He said that unit had also recently arrested over 20 rhino poachers.

Radebe said that while they were encouraged by the declining crime trends, "we remain concerned about the levels of crime, particularly crimes against women, children and the elderly." He reiterated that they would "spare neither strength nor effort" in ensuring that everyone in the country was safe.

Victims of crime survey

The recent Victims of Crime Survey (2011) indicates that victims of crime are beginning to see results in the fight against crime and the improvement in the treatment of victims.

Radebe commented that "Among other things, the survey found that over 40% of households felt that the level of both violent and non-violent crime had decreased in their area of residence during the period 2008 to 2010," he said. He further said of those surveyed, about 60% of households were satisfied with the way police and courts were doing their work.

The 2011 survey also revealed that 32.1% of households recorded that levels of crime had increased, compared to 2007 where 57.1% felt that crime had increased. With regard to personal safety, 88.2% and 27% felt safe walking in the areas during the day and at night respectively, compared to 2007 when the response was 76% and 23% respectively.

Radebe said that the Victim Surveys will continue on an annual basis under the auspices of Statistics South Africa to monitor perceptions of the public and victims of crime. "The results of these surveys will help government to develop targeted interventions in line with what the people in South Africa feel are areas of serious concern supported by the trends."

Courts improve case finalisation rates

"The country-wide situation regarding the outstanding and backlog cases per court level has continued to improve. As at the end of December 2011, we had succeeded in reducing the backlog numbers to the lowest number of backlog cases 32,902 (15.9%) than in the past five years," Radebe said. During the period April 2011 to December 2011, backlog courts removed 16,436 cases from the court rolls, with 77 additional backlog courts functioning at present (55 regional and 22 district courts).

"The Case Backlog Reduction intervention is yielding results. Between April 2009 and December 2011, a total of 40,298 were removed from the court rolls as a result of the additional regional and district backlog criminal courts. A total of 134 new prosecutors who graduated from the Justice College this past Friday will be deployed all over the country in order to further increase capacity around our courts. The impact will be the speedy finalisation of increased number of cases which has been a challenge in giving effect to provide access to justice," he added.

For the period April to December 2012, 327,818 cases were finalised. The High courts had a conviction rate on average of 84.4% (752 cases); Regional Courts 74.2% (21,886 cases) and district courts 90.5% (185,884 cases).

"A focus area for 2012 will be increased attention to increase the case finalisation rate at all court levels in conjunction with all role players. Engagements are underway between the Chief Justice and the Heads of Court to ensure that norms and standards are used throughout the country in driving and improving performance in courts. This is consistent with tenets of the Constitution with regard to speedy justice," said Radebe.

Meanwhile, Radebe said the strengthening of partnerships within the Criminal Justice System will remain a priority this year. These partnerships, he said, will include communities, role-players within government, business, interest groups, media, municipalities, religious and youth formations as well as international law enforcement agencies.

"As part of improving service delivery, we are in the process of reviewing our 10111 operations in order to ensure the efficiency of the system. This may include the revised deployment of resources in order to make the system more effective. High-tech equipment, vehicles and other tools procured during the 2010 FIFA World Cup continue to be used to safeguard all people within the country."

[annman]

www.news24.com

Western Cape govt aims to be best in world
2012-03-27 21:38

Johannesburg - The Western Cape's results in the last financial year reconfirmed its position as South Africa's best-run administration, Finance MEC Alan Winde said on Tuesday.

"But, Speaker, our vision for this province does not stop there: we have set ourselves the target of becoming the best run regional government in the world."

Winde was making the provincial treasury 2012/13 budget vote speech in Cape Town.

"One of the most critical factors upon which our success will be judged is our ability to eradicate corruption. We have already made significant progress toward this goal."

In 2010/11, for the second consecutive year, every department of the Western Cape government achieved an unqualified audit from the Auditor-General.

The province also spent more of its total budget than any other province in South Africa, just over 99%, he said.

In the coming year the provincial treasury has been allocated R154.286m, a 7.95% increase on last year's budget.

Administration would receive 21.54% of the budget, or R33.243m, to give strategic direction and quality financial support to Winde and the Treasury team as a whole.

Sustainable resource management would receive 44.21%, or R68.204m, to ensure that the province's budget and its financial assets were professionally managed, and to ensure that budgets across the board were utilised effectively and efficiently.

Assets and liabilities management would receive 19.86%, or R30.639m, to ensure accounting systems, physical assets and supply chain management systems were effectively managed.

Financial governance would receive 14.39%, or R22.22m, to develop and drive financial practices that supported the province's goal of reaching level three financial maturity by 2015.

"Above and beyond these programmes, is a set of new and innovative priority areas that will form the basis of the work of this department in the coming year," Winde said.

These priorities were budget management, public finance, supporting and interlinked financial systems, fiscal policy, immovable asset management, moveable asset management, business information and data management, and accounting.

He said the success of the above initiatives were highly dependent on the province's ability to build fit-for-purpose financial managers at provincial and local level.

"To grow new talent, we have invested in a programme that invites learners from across the province to draft high level essays that deal with the pertinent issues of our economy."

Up to 12 winners each year would receive full bursaries to study finance at a tertiary institution of their choice. The programme would be run in conjunction with Nedbank.

"Through this department's determination, we are fast tracking the revitalisation of the Western Cape public service. We remain steadfast in our pursuit of becoming the best-run regional government in the world," Winde said.

- SAPA